Hill, James Delos, House

HILE searching for the data with which to authenticate and embellish the story of the life and character of America's greatest living naval commander, the writer boarded a train in Grand Central Station, New York city, one Sunday afternoon at four o'clock, and at three o'clock the next morning found himself in the beautiful valley of the Winooski River, in the very heart of the famous Green Mountain region of Vermont. "Montpelier !" called out the trainman in deep stentorian tones, and the Pullman porter helped the weary traveler to the platform of the station. But it was not the Capital City after all - only a junction, from which a few moments later he was carried by a combination of freight and accommodation train to the charming little city which has now become historic as the birthplace of George Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay. The courteous hotel porter escorted the scribe to comfortable quarters for the remainder of the night, and in fifteen minutes after he was left alone the quiet of a New England village had lulled him into a refreshing slumber, undisturbed, until the sweet song-birds, which inhabit this region in great numbers, proclaimed the coming of the dawn of another day. Hastily preparing for breakfast (which comes at an early hour here), the searcher after facts was ushered into a large and commodious dining-hall, where trim New England maidens, in neat frocks, served an old-fashioned New England meal, with fresh Vermont maple syrup for the buckwheat cakes and shaved sugar for the rolls and cereal. Altogether, it was such a reception as one might have expected in a New England city which has erected in its State House a marble statue to Ethan Allen, and which celebrated the naval victory of May 1, 1898, as did no other city in America.

Passage source: The Life and Letters of Admiral Dewey : from Montpelier to Manila, Containing Reproductions in Fac-simile of Hitherto Unpublished Letters of George Dewey During the Admiral's Naval Career and Extracts from His Log-book, published 1899.

And right here it is well that the reader should become a little acquainted with the city of our Admiral's birth and boyhood. The eleventh census (1890) gave to Montpelier a population of a little more than five thousand persons, but a later school census increases that number to about eight thousand. The city lies in a quiet, sequestered spot, on the bank of the Winooski Eiver. It is surrounded so closely on all sides by the

Passage source: The Life and Letters of Admiral Dewey : from Montpelier to Manila, Containing Reproductions in Fac-simile of Hitherto Unpublished Letters of George Dewey During the Admiral's Naval Career and Extracts from His Log-book, published 1899.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Montpelier Village - 2,262 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.